Doctor Who: Series Six, Part One

Data
Title: Doctor Who: Series Six, Part One
Year: 2011
Network: BBC
Episodes: 7, at about 45 minutes each
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Directors: Toby Haynes (2 episodes), Julian Simpson (2), Richard Clark (1), Peter Hoar (1), Jeremy Webb (1)
Writers: Steven Moffat (3 episodes), Matthew Graham (2), Neil Gaiman (1), Steve Thompson (1)
Starring: Matt Smith
With: Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Alex Kingston, Frances Barber, Hugh Bonneville, Raquel Cassidy, Suranne Jones, Mark Sheppard, Sarah Smart
Music: Murray Gold
Cinematography: Stephan Pehrsson, Balazs Bolygo, Dale McCready, Owen McPolin
Editing: Jamie Pearson, Tim Porter, Úna Ní Dhonghaíle, Peter Oliver, Simon Reglar
I saw it: on video, over the past couple weeks (have on DVD)
Synopsis: an alien travels through space and time with a human couple expecting a time-baby

My reaction
Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent). What was wrong with adventures? I liked when they went on adventures. Not happy to see the show turning into Lost.
Story: 1/4 (Bad). The Neil Gaiman episode is excellent. The pirate episode is crap. Otherwise, the rest of the episodes are pretty much all part of one big story, and not a very good one. There are so many unanswered questions set up in the beginning that I don't even know what hasn't been resolved yet. And I don't care. They mean to be creating suspense, but instead they're just ensuring that none of the stories have effective conclusions.
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent). The only development going on is with River Song. Does anybody actually like River Song? I mean, other than Moffat, who is clearly obsessed with her.
Dialog: 4/4 (Great). At least when the stories get bad, I can tune out the plot and enjoy the banter (when the music's not too loud to drown it out).
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad). This season is on crack a little. Kind of like we're watching it in fast forward. Which makes the "emotional" parts hilarious.
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great). Reasonably good special effects. Not much designing to speak of compared with previous seasons (only one new alien), although what there is is excellent - the sets in particular.
Acting: 3/4 (Good). It is hard to judge this when you're watching a show in fast forward.
Music: 1/4 (Bad)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). Meh. Matt Smith's Doctor is turning out to be a lot of fun. But there sure is a lot wrong with this season so far. Still good, though, thanks mostly to Neil Gaiman for sticking something great into the middle of this mess.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)